The daytime soap opera ratings are in for the week of October 22-26, 2012. GENERAL HOSPITAL finished on top of the Women 18-34 demo for the fourth straight week. THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS won the Women 18-49 demo with a 1.2 edging out GH's 1.1.

For the 4th consecutive week, GENERAL HOSPITAL ranked as the #1 program in Daytime in Women 18-34 (0.7 rating/248,000), posting its largest competitive advantage over YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS in 14 months and its second-biggest edge in close to 4-1/2 years (+31% – 248,000 vs. 189,000), since weeks of 8/22/11 and 6/23/08, respectively. Moreover, the series recorded its closest finish to YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS in 14 months in Women 18-49 – since week of 8/29/11.

THE VIEW tied GENERAL HOSPITAL as Daytime’s #1 program in Women 18-34 (0.7 rating/237,000), spiking to a 22-week high in the demo – since week of 5/21/12.

THE CHEW soared to its most-watched week in 23 weeks in Women 18-49 (421,000) – since week of 5/14/12 – and registered season highs in Women 18-34 (149,000) and Women 25-54 (536,000).

Following are the Daytime lineup averages, plus Top 5 Programs ranks among key Women, sorted by Women 18-49:

From TV Media Insights:
THE TALK on CBS continues to narrow the gap with THE VIEW on ABC. According to the Live Plus Same Day results from Nielsen for the week of October 22, THE TALK year-to-year built by 13 percent in total viewers (2.00 to 2.27 million – tied with THE CHEW on ABC, which was up by five percent) and 10 percent in both women 25-54 (548,000 to 604,000) and women 18-34 (143,000 to 158,000). Results among women 18-49 were flat at 490,000. THE VIEW still dominates, of course, but Barbara Walters and her chatty company dipped by 12 percent in total viewers (3.66 to 3.23 million), 23 percent in women 25-54 (993,000 to 768,000) and 15 percent among women 18-49 (745,000 to 631,000). Women 18-34 increased by four percent (228,000 to 237,000).

From KATIE:
Based on National ratings for the week of October 22, 2012, KATIE earned the No. 1 position among all freshmen syndicated talk shows for the 7th week in a row in Households (1.9 rating), Total Viewers (2.500 million) and Women 25-54 (1.0 rating).